Global Fastener News

Fastenal Co. reported fastener sales stabilized in June, holding at a 0.6% rate of decline that began in May. The May decline ended a 27-month stretch of fastener product revenue growth.

Fastener sales in the second quarter of 2023 were flat and totaled $613.9 million (32.6% of revenue).

Consolidated revenue rose 5.9% in Q2 due to higher unit sales. Operating income declined to 21%, while net earnings gained 3.8% to $298 million. Gross margin was 45.5%, down 100 basis points from the prior year.

“This decline is almost entirely due to product and customer mix as we experienced widening sales growth outperformance of non-fasteners over fasteners and of Onsite growth over non-Onsite growth,” CFO Holden Lewis commented on an earnings call transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

During Q2 Fastenal signed 86 new Onsite locations, resulting in 1,728 active sites – an increase of 15.1%.

Consolidated revenue during the first half of 2023 increased 7.3% to $3.74 billion.

Earlier this year, fastener sales grew 1.2% in April, 2.3% in March, 8% in February and 11.6% in January.

In the opening quarter of 2023, Fastenal reported fastener sales growth slowed to 7%, hurt by lower manufacturing activity. The rate dropped from 9.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 and down from 24.6% growth in the first quarter of 2022. Web: Fastenal.com